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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827896">Virgil has Trich</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cass_and_KITT_in_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Cass_and_KITT_in_the_TARDIS'>Cass_and_KITT_in_the_TARDIS</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Anxious Thomas Sanders, Caring Logic | Logan Sanders, First Dates, Former Dark Side Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hair-pulling, Logic | Logan Sanders Is A Good Friend, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Non-Sexual, Social Anxiety</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:42:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,867</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cass_and_KITT_in_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Cass_and_KITT_in_the_TARDIS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(Trichotillomania (trik-o-til-o-MAY-nee-uh), also called hair-pulling disorder, is a mental disorder that involves recurrent, irresistible urges to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other areas of your body, despite trying to stop.) - Mayo Clinic</p>
<p>Thomas is preparing for his first actual date with Nico, and he's super anxious, running a hand through his hair constantly. He's actually running early, so he's just a ball of nervous energy. Smooths some bangs out of his face, running his fingers over his face in the process. Afraid he's scuffed up the hairs in his eyebrow, he runs his fingers over it to smooth it over, and it feels off somehow. Without thinking anything about it, he just grazes his fingernails over the hair, and starts to pick at them-<br/>But that's when Logan pops up, to help Thomas keep his focus and his cool.<br/>Thomas doesn't know what to do with his hands, and in an effort to figure out the root cause of his pre-date jitters and worries, Logan summons Virgil, who's a nervous wreck at the moment, hair covering his face more than usual…</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nico Flores/Thomas Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Virgil has Trich</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Trichotillomania, or Trich, is something I've dealing with off and on since I was little. I never knew it was an actual disorder and had a name for it until last year when a friend mentioned it to me, so I looked it up, and found out that that was something that I did as well.<br/>My issues with Trich are mainly with my eyebrows, but also with my eyelashes as well. I realize it's not JUST an anxiety issue, but it can be linked to it. <br/>I am writing mostly based on my own experience with how it feels for me. </p>
<p>Now, with that being said, while this is not my first fanfic, it is, however, my first Sanders Sides fanfic,  so please be kind, and no hate! Constructive criticism is appreciated tho! <br/>I hope you enjoy!  ^_^</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thomas had been waiting anxiously on his couch for several minutes now. Probably longer. It definitely felt longer. He had been checking his watch constantly for awhile now, as he had been getting ready for his date with Nico, making sure he wasn't going to be running late. As a result of wanting to get ready early so that he could make sure that he'd have plenty of time to get himself ready on time, he was actually running a bit TOO early now. So now, here he was, sitting on the couch, checking his watch every couple of minutes, wishing time world go faster, as it was still a bit too early to be early for his date, anxiously running through a mental checklist of things making sure he wasn't forgetting anything: was his hair brushed? Yep! (Though it would need to be again if he kept messing with it.) He didn't accidentally forget to brush his teeth in his hurry, did he? A quick breath check against his hand told him no. Not that he couldn't taste the mint from his toothpaste in his month, which only occurred to him after the fact. Fresh deodorant? Yup! He didn't forget to put on socks before shoes did he? Nope! He has socks on! He checked his watch again. Not even five minutes later from when he last checked it.<br/> 'Get ahold of yourself' he sighed. 'It's just a date. A simple date.'<br/>He sighed again, nervously running a hand through his hair, running his hand over his face in the process, after which he realized after the fact, that in doing so, he could've scuffed up his eyebrows, which he had made sure in the mirror earlier were nice and neat in place, and now potentially probably looked liked bedhead eyebrows. He licked the pad of one of his fingers to help smooth any stray hairs back into place. Immediately upon doing so, he couldn't help but feel like something about the eyebrow hairs didn't feel right. It felt off somehow…. Like the individual hairs were too stiff, too thick feeling somehow…. Uncomfortable feeling, against his fingers, somehow. Almost subconsciously, he had started grazing his fingernails against the hairs, feeling them out. He was just about to start plucking at them when Logan rose up next him. <br/> "Thomas, what are you doing?" Logan asked, in an attempt to get Thomas back into a sense of presence of mind.<br/> "Logan! Um what? Nothing!" Said Thomas, having been jolted from what he had been about to do.<br/> "Falsehood. You're fidgeting." Logan pointed out. <br/>Thomas sighed. "Yeah, I guess I am, aren't I? Kinda hard not to though. I haven't really been this into someone since I was with my ex. I don't want this date to go wrong. I'm really wanting things to go right, but I don't wanna scare him off either…"<br/>Logan studied Thomas for a moment, trying to read where Thomas' mind was at. Thomas was fidgeting with his hands, clearly in an anxious state of mind. Something that Virgil did quite often. Virgil. Virgil was Thomas' anxiety. Virgil had to have been more of an anxious mess than usual right now, if he's influencing Thomas this much. Not intentionally, he's sure. Virgil also encompassed another part of Thomas along with being his anxiety, but Logan needed to make sure that Virgil was calm enough so as not to indulge and therefore, affect Thomas, with that particular part of Virgil. A part that Logan knew that Virgil wasn't very proud of, and, if his anxiety became too much, could very well teeter over into that very easily.<br/> "Perhaps if we were to talk with Virgil, we can come up with a way to calm your unease?" Logan suggested. <br/> "If you think it could help?"<br/> "Certainly. Virgil!"<br/>Virgil appeared suddenly, on the opposite side of Thomas from where Logan was sitting, hoodie up, head ducked into its confines as much as possible, wth his hair hanging over his eyes, and hand up in front of his face. Realizing he had been summoned out of his room unexpectedly, he quickly pulled his hand away from his face, like a kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.<br/>Both Logan and Thomas gave Virgil twin concerned looks at Virgil. <br/> "Virgil?" Logan started. <br/> "Are you okay?" Asked Thomas. <br/> "Umm…. Not exactly." Virgil replied. <br/> "What seems to be the matter?" Logan asked.<br/>Virgil looked up slightly, noticeably trying to make sure his face was hidden. "Thomas hasn't been in any kind of relationship for three years. I'm worried about messing it up somehow. What if we talk too much? Or- or, what if I cause Thomas to be so nervous about this date, he tries to over compensate and just ends up causing a mess? Or what if-"<br/> "Virgil! Breathe. You are causing Thomas too much stress. You are concerned for Thomas and I understand that. But it's once again starting to overflow into an unhealthy amount of concern, and it's negatively affecting Thomas." Logan calmly stated, hoping he could help bring Virgil's rising anxiety back into check. <br/> "I'm sorry. I can't help it! I'm scared! What if things go wrong? It was because of me that this date almost didn't happen. What if I'm the cause of it possibly going wrong?" As soon as Virgil finished talking, he immediately ducked his head again, and his hand came back up to his face.<br/>As Logan watched Virgil, he couldn't help but notice that Thomas' hand had come up to his own face at the same time as Virgil, fingers coming up and finding their eyebrows, and started to pluck at them. Not good. Especially right before going out on a date. If Thomas kept plucking at his eyebrows like that, he'd feel even worse than he did right now, and would have to fill it in with a makeup pencil. Realizing that Virgil was unconsciously holding sway over Thomas, Logan stood up from his spot on the couch, and came over to get down between Thomas and Virgil. "Virgil?" Logan asked, "may I see your face please?" <br/> "What? Why?! What for?!" Virgil had once again suddenly pulled his hand away and was leaning away from Logan. <br/> "Please? I fear what you may be doing, and in order to help, you and Thomas, I need to see it for myself so that I can assess it to the best of my abilities, as left untreated, it will only continue to become more detrimental over time. Please?" Logan asked, concern in his voice. Showing any level of emotion wasn't exactly Logan's forte, but this could become a health concern if not treated and handled right.<br/>Virgil looked at Logan nervously, before glancing over at Thomas, before letting his hood down. <br/>Logan carefully raised his hand, and gently brushed Virgil's hair out of his face. Virgil's eyebrows had been plucked at so much, he hardly had much left of them. Logan also took the opportunity to look closely at Virgil's eyelashes as well. While not quite as bad, his eyelashes had unfortunately not been spared either from Virgil's excessive plucking.<br/> "Oh Virgil…." Thomas said, sadly. <br/> "I'm sorry, Thomas. I know you always like to look your best, and here am I only sabotaging it…." Virgil said in  a defeated tone of voice. <br/> "Virgil, look at me, " Logan started, regaining Virgil's attention again. "You are not sabotaging Thomas. That would imply a level of conscious effort on your part to actually want to sabotage Thomas, which I can't see you wanting to do, do you?"<br/> "Of course not!"<br/> "I didn't think so. So Virgil, can you tell me how long this has been going on for? "<br/> "I don't really know… awhile?"<br/> "Virgil, you may not be sabotaging Thomas, but you have to know that doing this isn't good, for you, or for Thomas, and not just on an aesthetic level." <br/>"What do you mean?" Thomas asked.<br/> "Because hair pulling like this can be a serious issue, Thomas. It's actually a form of mental illness called Trichotillomania. It's a hair pulling disorder, and if left untreated, it can become more worse over time, and could potentially lead to a skin infection from it."<br/> "Oh gosh!" Exclaimed Thomas.<br/> "Oh geez! Here I was thinking it was just a nervous tick I had. I'm…sigh… I'm sorry Thomas. I don't mean to cause problems for you. I just… I get scared. I'm scared that what we do won't go right, or that we'll mess it up somehow, or that we won't be liked and wind up not even having a shot at what we want. I want Thomas to be happy, so I've been trying not to do anything that could keep Thomas from that this time around, since I almost cost him the chance to even have this opportunity to begin with. But I'm still worried, and I was touching up my eyeshadow one day, and, I don't know, i guess some of it was getting in my eye, and was starting to stick to my eyelashes, and….." Virgil explained, trailing off at the end. <br/> "And that's when, I'm assuming, you started to pluck at them?" Logan asked? <br/>"Yeah. And then i started to…. Pick at my… eyebrows…." Virgil said quietly. "It was just a nervous habit at first, but then I just found myself doing it on a regular basis, but I didn't want you guys to find out. So I just covered it over with my hair most of the time. Guess this time I just didn't have as tight a control over myself as I should have. I'm sorry Thomas. Wasn't trying to make you a nervous wreck on your first date."<br/> "It's alright, Virgil. I understand." Said Thomas. "At least no real harm was done, right? We caught an issue before it could become worse, right?"<br/> "Precisely, Thomas," Logan stated, making a note for Thomas to look into ways he could keep himself from plucking at his hairs in the future. "Oh, and Virgil, perhaps until we have a more permanent solution, maybe employing the use of a stress ball might be able to help you for the time being?" Logan asked Virgil, conjuring up a fuzzy purple and black ball, and handing it to the anxious side. <br/>Virgil took the palm sized fuzz ball from Logan, and gave it a couple of squeezes, before twisting some of its fuzzy hairs together, and giving them a gentle tug.<br/> "Huh. Cool. Thanks Lo," said Virgil, thanking Logan for the fuzzy stress ball.<br/> "You're quite welcome, Virgil," said Logan, before standing back up. "Oh, Thomas, before you leave, please run a comb over your hair? It looks like you just woke up. You do want to look nice and tidy on your first date, after all!"<br/> "Thanks Logan!" Said Thomas. He checked himself in the mirror one last time, combing his hair quickly back into place, before grabbing his keys, and walking out the door, with plans on getting a thing of flowers for his date, and maybe, perhaps, for himself, some kind of tiny fuzzy keychain bauble for his keys….</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to leave a review letting me know what you thought!  ^_^<br/>Thanks and stay safe out there, all you guys, gals, and non binary pals!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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